JPH03177153A - Voice mail device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to record an answer by reading out a voice message stored beforehand, and sending it to the telephone set of a remote party, and detecting that a line to the remote party is connected, and storing the voice message of the answer in a storage means. CONSTITUTION:A detecting means detects whether the line to the telephone set of the remote party is connected or not after the transmission of the voice message by a transmitting means. Then, when it is detected by the detecting means that the line to the remote party is connected, a control means 5 controls a first storage means 10 so as to store the voice message of the answer to be received through the telephone line in the first storage means 10. Thus, after the transmission of the voice message to the remote party, the voice message of the answer from the remote party can be received and recorded automatically.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a voice mail device that automatically transmits a voice message of stored voice data to a destination telephone via a telephone line.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a voice message of voice data previously stored in a voice memory is automatically transmitted to a destination telephone having a previously registered telephone number via a telephone line at a pre-specified transmission time. At the same time, voice mail devices are manufactured and sold that receive a voice message from a destination telephone via a telephone line, convert it into voice data, and store it in a voice memory.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, with this conventional voice mail device, the voice message stored in the voice memory can be automatically transmitted at a pre-specified transmission time; If the other party wants to send a voice message in response to a voice message sent by the other party, it is necessary to disconnect the line and then dial the phone number of this voice mail device from the other party's telephone to establish a line connection. was there.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and after transmitting a pre-stored voice message at a pre-specified transmission time to the telephone of the other party having a pre-registered telephone number via a telephone line, To provide a voice mail device capable of receiving and recording a voice message as a reply from a person.

[Means for Solving the Problems 1] A voice mail device according to the present invention includes a first storage means for storing a voice message to be transmitted to a telephone of a destination, and a second memory for storing a telephone number of the destination. means, third storage means for storing the transmission time at which the voice message is transmitted, and a current time stored in the second storage means when the current time coincides with the transmission time stored in the third storage means; a line connecting means for dialing the telephone number of the other party and connecting the telephone line; and after the line connecting means has connected the line, reading out the voice message stored in the first storage means and transmitting the voice message to the telephone line via the telephone line; a transmission means for transmitting the voice message to the telephone of the other party; a detection means for detecting whether or not the line is connected to the telephone of the other party after the transmission means sends the voice message; When it is detected that the line with the telephone is connected, the first storage means stores a reply voice message received via the telephone line in the first storage means. The invention is characterized by comprising a control means for controlling.

[Operation 1] With the above configuration, the line connection means can connect the telephone of the other party stored in the storage means of wI2 when the current time matches the transmission time stored in the third storage means. After dialing the number and connecting the telephone line, the transmitting means reads out the voice message stored in the first storage means and sends the voice message to the other party via the telephone line after the line is connected by the line connecting means. Send to the destination phone. Next, after the transmitting means transmits the voice message, the detecting means detects whether or not the line is connected to the telephone of the other party, and then the controlling means detects whether or not the line is connected to the telephone of the other party. When it is detected that the line is connected, to the first storage means,
The first storage means is controlled to store a reply voice message received via the telephone line.

Therefore, after transmitting a voice message to the other party, a reply voice message from the other party can be automatically received and recorded.

[Example 1] Hereinafter, an example according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

@1 Figure is a block diagram of a telephone with a voice mail device which is an embodiment of the present invention, and the following items will be explained in order.

(1) Configuration of telephone with voice mail device (2) Configuration of input display section (3) Control of telephone with voice mail device 70 - This telephone transmits a voice message of pre-stored voice data at a pre-specified transmission time. The system is characterized in that the voice message is automatically transmitted to the telephone of the other party having a pre-registered telephone number, and after the voice message is transmitted, the voice message from the other party is automatically received and recorded.

(1) Configuration of telephone with voice mail device This telephone has the following features:
The telephone has two operating modes: a telephone mode in which the telephone is used as a normal telephone with only voice transmission and reception functions, and a voice mail mode in which it is used by connecting a voice mail device.

In FIG. 1, switches 3, 4, 6, and 7 are for switching between telephone mode and voice mail mode, and control signals inputted from CPU 20 via bus 30 and input/output port circuit 27, which will be described later. In each case, it is switched to the a side or the b side depending on the situation.

The voice memory 10 is a RAM for storing voice data obtained by analog/digital conversion (hereinafter referred to as A/D conversion) from a voice signal in the voice mail mode, and here, the voice data of voice messages is temporarily stored. It has a temporary registration area for temporarily storing the audio data, and an audio registration area for storing the audio data until an instruction to clear the audio data is given.

The line control unit 5 is connected to a telephone line, and has a call path setting function, a line control function, and a dial sending function, and its operation is controlled by a CPU 20, which will be described later. That is, in the telephone mode, in the telephone mode, after the line is connected, the call path setting function sends the voice signal input from the transmitter la to the telephone line as described later, and also sends the voice signal input through the telephone line to the telephone line. On the other hand, in the voice mail mode, the voice data read out from the voice memory 10 is D/A converted by the digital/analog converter (hereinafter referred to as D/A converter) 12, and the voice signal is output to the telephone line. At the same time, the audio signal input to the line connection unit 5 via the telephone line is output to the audio memory 10 via the A/D converter 13, and the audio data of the audio signal is stored in the audio memory IO. Make me remember. The line control function performs outgoing connection, detection of incoming calls from the telephone line, and line connection. Further, the dial sending function sends a dial pulse signal or a pushbutton signal corresponding to the fifth-hand telephone number to the telephone line based on the telephone number data input from the CPU 20.

The CPU 20 is a control device that controls the operation of this telephone with a voice mail device, and includes a ROM 21 that stores a system program that controls the operation of the CPU 20, and a
It is connected via a bus 30 to a RAM 22 which is used as a work area for U 20 and which stores telephone number data and transmission time data of the other party. Also, C
The PU 20 includes a liquid crystal display section (hereinafter referred to as an LCD display section) 24 that displays various messages, a light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as an LED) 25, 26,
A bus 30 is connected to the input/output boat circuit 27 which is integrated with the key power unit 23 and the control terminals of the switches 3 and 4°6.7 as well as the 7-switch lcJ:al that detects the on-footer and off-switch of the handset l. connected. In addition, RAM
22 is a temporary registration area for temporarily storing telephone number data and transmission time data, and a telephone number area and transmission time for respectively storing telephone number data and transmission time data until an instruction is given to clear those data. It has a settings area.

In telephone mode, switches 3, 4, and 6° 7 are both switched to side a. At this time, the voice input to the transmitter 1a of the handset 1 is converted into an audio signal, and is input to the line control unit 5 via the amplifier 2, the a side of the switch 3, and the a side of the switch 4. Afterwards, it is sent to the other party's telephone via the telephone line. In addition, the voice signal input from the other party's telephone to the line control unit 5 via the telephone line is
The signal is output to the handset 1b of the handset 1 via the a side of the switch 6, the a side of the switch 7, and the amplifier 8, and is converted into voice and output.

On the other hand, in voice mail mode, switch 3°4.6
．． 7 are both switched to the b side.

When recording a voice message in voice mail mode,
The audio signal output from the transmitter 1a is input to the A/D converter 11 via the amplifier 2 and the b side of the switch 3, where it is A/D converted into audio data and then stored in the audio memory 10.
is entered and stored. Furthermore, when playing back a voice message, the voice data read from the voice memory 10 is input to the D/A converter 14 and converted into a voice signal by D/A converter 14.
After being converted to A, transmit and receive calls via the b side of switch 7 and amplifier 8! ! ;l is output to the receiver 1b, and is output as voice.

When sending a voice message in voice mail mode,
The audio data read from the audio memory 10 is
After being D/A converted into an audio signal by the converter 12, it is input to the line control section 5 via the b side of the switch 4, and is sent to the destination telephone via the telephone line. Further, when receiving a voice message, a voice signal inputted from the telephone of the other party to the line control section 5 via the telephone line is inputted to the A/D converter 13 via the b side of the switch 6. After being A/D converted into audio data, it is input to the audio memory 10 and stored.

(2) Structure of input/output display section FIG. 2 is a front view of the input/output display section of this telephone with voice mail device.

This input/output display section includes a key input section 23 and an LCD display section 2.
4, and the key human power section 23 has 0 to 9 and "*"
A numeric keypad 40 consisting of the # key and a voice mail key 4
5, a registration key 41, a message memory key 42,
An answering machine key 43 and a transmission key 44 are provided. Furthermore, the send key 44 and the voice mail key 45 each have an L key.
ED26.25 is provided.

The numeric keypad 40 is used to instruct the setting of a telephone number, the transmission time, and the recording, playback, and deletion of voice messages, and the registration key 41 is used to instruct the registration of the telephone number and transmission time. Further, the message memory key 42 is used to instruct recording of a voice message, and the answering machine key 43 is used to instruct answering machine recording. Furthermore, the transmission key 44 is transmitted to the voice memory 10.
It is used to set/cancel the transmission of voice messages stored in
When the transmission is canceled, the LED 26 turns off.

The voice mail key 45 is used to switch between telephone mode and voice mail mode.
By pressing 5, you can alternately switch between telephone mode and voice mail mode, and when in voice mail mode, the LED 25
lights up, while in the telephone mode, the LED 25 goes off.

(3) Control Flow of Telephone with Voice Mail Device FIG. 3 is a 70-chart of the main routine for controlling the telephone with voice mail device.

When power supply starts to the telephone, this main routine is executed, and first, in step Sl (hereinafter, "step" is omitted), the CPU 20 is reset, and then various initial setting processes are performed. It will be done. Next, in S2, on-edge detection of the transmission key 44, which instructs transmission of the stored voice message, and LED 2
6. Input/output processing such as lighting/extinguishing processing (see Figure 4).

) is performed, the control mode indicating the mode to be processed is checked in S3.

If the value of the control mode is 0'', in step S4, a standby mode is entered in which operations of the key manual section 23 such as detecting on-edge of the registration key 41 and message memory key 42, checking of transmission setting time, and checking of reception are performed. The process (see Figure 5) is performed.If the control mode value is "V', the registration mode process (see Figure 6) in which the destination telephone number and transmission time are set is performed in S5. ) is carried out. Further, if the value of the control mode is '2', message memory mode processing (see FIG. 7) is performed in S6 to store the voice message to be sent to the other party in the voice memory 10. , if the value of the control mode is 3'', in S7, the call processing of the other party, the voice memory I
A transmission mode process (see FIG. 8) is performed in which the voice message stored in O is transmitted and the voice message in response from the other party is recorded. If the value of the control mode is 1''4#, reception mode processing (see Figure 9) is performed in S8 to process reception from the other party.Also, if the value of the control mode is ``5'', If there is, other mode processing is performed in S9.

After each of the above processes (S4 to S9), the process returns to S2 and the above processes are repeated.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a subroutine for input/output processing (S2 in FIG. 3).

In this input/output processing, first, in step 5201, it is checked whether the memory transmission flag is O''.This memory transmission flag is set in the initial setting process (Sl
) is reset to "O", and when the memory transmission flag is @11#, it indicates the execution of the voice message transmission process described later, and the memory transmission flag is "o".
” indicates that the audio memory transmission process is not executed.

Here, when the memory transmission flag is 0'', 520
Proceed to step 2, determine whether the transmission key 44 is turned on,
When the transmission key 44 is turned on, the memory transmission flag is set to l" in 5203, the LED 26 is turned on in 5204, and the process proceeds to 5208. On the other hand, in 520
If the transmission key 44 is not turned on in step 2,
After turning off the LED 26 in 207, the process advances to 5208.

Further, when the memory transmission flag is "BI" in 5201, it is detected in 5205 whether or not the transmission key 44 is turned on.When the transmission key 44 is turned on, (
(Yes in S 205), the memory transmission flag is set to “0” in 5206, and the LE
After turning off D26, the process advances to 5208. On the other hand, if the transmission key 44 is not turned on (No in S205)
), proceed to 5204, turn on LED 26, and then proceed to 52
Proceed to 08.

At step 5208, input/output processing (520B>) is performed for inputting other keys of the key input section 23 and the knock switch 1c, and performing various output processing, and then the process returns to the main routine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of standby mode processing (S4 in FIG. 3).

Kono standby mode processing (7) 5401.5402.540
3. At 5404, the registration key 41 is turned on and off.
OFF check, ON/OFF check of the message memory key 42, transmission time check, and reception check are performed.

In 5401, when registration key 4I is turned on, 5
After setting the control mode to 71" in 405, the process returns to the main routine. Also, when the message memory key 42 is turned on in 5402, the control mode is set to "2#" in 5406, and the process returns to the main routine. Furthermore, in 5403, it is checked whether the current time measured by a timer (not shown) matches the transmission time stored in advance in the transmission time setting area of the RAM 22, and when it matches, in 5407, the control mode is set. After setting 3'', the process returns to the main routine. Furthermore, in step 5404, the presence or absence of the line connection control signal received by the line control unit 5 is confirmed, and if the line connection control signal has been received, the process returns to step 5408.
After setting the control mode to "4",
Return to main routine. On the other hand, if the line connection control signal is not received in 5404, other predetermined processing is performed in 5409, and then the process returns to the main routine.

FIG. 6 is a 70-chart of the subroutine of registration mode processing (@31!l, 55).

In this registration mode processing, in 5501, a message is placed to instruct the LCD display section 24 to set a telephone number. ” is displayed. Next, in 5502, a check is made for the manual power of the keys on the numeric keypad 40, and '0" is displayed.
When one of the number keys from "9" to "9" is pressed,
RA the data of the number of the key pressed in 5503
After additional storage in the temporary registration area in M22, 5502
Return to Further, when the "*" key is pressed in 5502, after clearing the telephone number data stored in the telephone number area in the RAM 22 in 5504,
Return to 02. Furthermore, when "#" is pressed in 5502, the telephone number data stored in the temporary registration area in the RAM 22 is transferred to and stored in the telephone number area in the RAM 22 in 5505, and then the process advances to 5506.

At 5506, the above 5505 is displayed on the LCD display section 24.
Message ``TIME SET?'' to instruct the setting of the sending time for sending to the destination of the registered phone number.
” is displayed. Next, at 5507, a check is made for the manual input of the keys on the numeric keypad 40.
When one number key of 9″ is pressed, 550
The data of the number of the key pressed in 8 is stored in the RAM 22.
After additional storage in the temporary registration area within, the process returns to 5507.

Also, when the ``book'' key is pressed in 5507, after clearing the transmission time data stored in the transmission time setting area in the RAM 22 in 5509, 550
71 back. Further, when the button "Pa#" is pressed in 5507, the transmission time data stored in the temporary registration area in the RAM 22 is transferred to and stored in the transmission time setting area in the RAM 22 in 5510, and then the process advances to 5511.

In step 5511, a check is further made to see if the setting of the transmission time has been completed. In other words, following the "#" key pressed before processing 551O, "0" to °°
When one of the keys ``9'' and ``Tree'' is pressed,
The process returns to 5507 to set another transmission time again.

On the other hand, when the "#" key is pressed in 5511, the control mode is set to 0" in 5512, and the process returns to the main routine.

Figure 7 shows message memory mode processing (56 in Figure 3)
2 is a flowchart of a subroutine.

In this message memory mode processing, first, 5601
At this point, "MESSAGE?" is displayed on the LCD display unit 24, which instructs input of the voice message to be stored.

Next, in 5602, the input on the numeric keypad 40 is checked, and when one of the number keys from H11 to "9" is pressed, the process proceeds to 5603, and the voice data of the voice message is stored in the voice memory 10. That is, the voice input to the transmitter 1a is converted into an audio signal, and then input to the A/D converter 11 via the amplifier 2 and the b side of the switch 3, where it is A/D converted into audio data. The audio data is stored in the audio memory IO.

In 5602, when the O'' key is pressed, the voice message of the voice data stored in the voice memory 10 is played back. That is, the voice data stored in the voice memory 10 is read out, and the voice message is D/A converted. After being converted into an audio signal in the receiver 14, it is output to the receiver 1b via the b side of the switch 7 and the amplifier 8, thereby reproducing the audio message of the stored audio data.

At 5602, when the "*" key is pressed, the voice data of the voice message stored in the voice memory 10 is cleared.

After the voice data of the voice message is stored in the temporary registration area of the voice memory IO in 5603, when the "#" key is pressed in 5602 to indicate the end of recording the voice message, the voice data of the voice memory 1O is stored in 5606.
The voice data of the voice message registered in the temporary registration area of 0 is transferred to the voice registration area of the same voice memory 10 and stored. At this time, immediately after the last part of the audio data stored in the audio memory 10, audio end data indicating the end of the audio data is stored. Next, in 5607, the control mode is set to 0'', and the process returns to the main routine.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the subroutine of the transmission mode process (S7 in FIG. 3).

In this transmission mode processing, first, in 5701, it is determined based on the memory transmission flag whether or not to transmit a voice message of voice data stored in the voice memory IO. That is, it is determined whether or not the memory transmission flag is "l", and if it is 'l', in 5702,
Check whether transmission is possible via the connected telephone line. If transmission is possible, proceed to 5703; on the other hand, if transmission is not possible, such as when switching to telephone mode and in the middle of a call or receiving, proceed to 57I2 and set the control mode to 0''. Note that in 5701, the memory transmission flag is 0.
”, proceed to 5712.

In step 5703, after performing an or-hook and performing a calling process of dialing the destination of the telephone number stored in the telephone number area of the RAM 22, the terminal waits for a predetermined period of time, for example, 30 seconds. Next, in 5704, it is determined whether the destination telephone has been taken off-hook and the line has been connected. If the line is connected, in 5705, a voice message of the voice data stored in the voice memory 10 is transmitted to the destination telephone via the telephone line.

That is, the audio data stored in the audio registration area of the audio memory 10 is D/A converted into an audio signal by the D/A converter 12, and then transferred to the b side of the switch 4, the line controller 5.
, and is sent to the other party's telephone via the telephone line.

Next, after detecting voice end data in 5706, it is checked in 5707 whether or not the line is connected. Here, when the line is connected, it is determined that the voice message has been successfully transmitted, and the process proceeds to 5708, where the LCD display section 24 displays "
After displaying "Memory transmission complete", proceed to 5709. If the line is not connected in 5704,
After proceeding to 711 and performing line disconnection processing, the control mode is set to O'' in 5712 and the process returns to the main routine.Furthermore, when the line is connected and disabled in 5707, the voice message is normal. It is determined that the message has not been sent, and the process proceeds to 5720.

At 5720, it is determined whether the number of times the line is not connected after the message transmission process at 5705 (hereinafter referred to as the number of transmission attempts) is an integer N times. If the number of transmission attempts is not N, the process returns to step 5703 and repeats the process of calling the destination and the message sending process (S705) in order to perform the line connection process with the destination again and send the voice message. On the other hand, when the number of transmission attempts reaches N times, in 5721, 'Memory Transmission Cancellation' is displayed on the LCD display section 24, and then the process proceeds to 5709. In this embodiment, N-
2, and if it is the first time that the line is disconnected while sending a voice message, the line connection process with the other party is performed and the voice message is retransmitted, but if the line is disconnected twice in a row, It is set to stop sending voice messages.

At step 5709, processing is performed to record a reply message from the other party. That is, the voice signal of the reply message input from the other party's telephone via the telephone line is input to the A/D converter 13 via the line control section 5 and the b side of the switch 6, and is converted into voice data by A/D converter 13. /D After conversion,
It is stored in the voice registration area of the voice memory IO.

Next, in 571O, the memory transmission flag is set to 0'', and in 5711, line disconnection processing is performed to set the on-footer state, and in 5712, the control mode is set to 1IQl#, and the process returns to the main routine.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the subroutine of reception mode processing (58 in FIG. 3).

In this reception mode processing, first, in 5801, conditions such as whether this telephone can receive calls and whether to perform answering machine recording are checked, and if it is possible to perform reception processing, in 5802, the incoming call is connected. After performing predetermined reception processing such as processing or answering machine recording processing, the control mode is set to O'' in 5803 and the process returns to the main routine.Meanwhile, in 5801 it is determined that it is impossible to perform reception processing. , the reception process is not performed, the control mode is set to "no" in 5803, and the process returns to the main routine, as explained above.
At a pre-specified transmission time, a voice message with pre-stored voice data is automatically sent to the other party's phone with the pre-registered phone number, and after this voice message is sent, the voice message from the other party is automatically sent. Since the call is automatically received and recorded, there is no need for the other party to dial the telephone again to establish a line connection, as was the case in the past.

In the above embodiments, a telephone equipped with a voice mail device has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the voice mail device may be configured independently. , may be provided in a telephone terminal device such as a data transmission device.

In the above embodiment, the audio data of the audio message is stored in the audio memory IO which is a RAM, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be stored in another audio storage device such as a magnetic tape.

[Effects of the Invention J As detailed above, according to the present invention I, when the current time coincides with the pre-stored transmission time, dial the pre-stored telephone number of the destination and connect the telephone line. After making the connection, a pre-stored voice message is read out and sent to the telephone of the other party via the telephone line, detects that the line with the telephone of the other party is connected, and transmits the message via the telephone line. Since the reply voice message received by the recipient is stored in the storage means, the reply voice message from the recipient can be automatically received and recorded after the voice message is sent to the recipient. Therefore, there is an advantage that there is no need for the other party to dial the voice mail device again to establish a line connection, unlike in the conventional example.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephone with a voice mail device that is an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view of the input display section of the telephone shown in FIG.
The figure shows the 70-chart of the main 70- of the telephone shown in Fig. 1, the t1g4 figure shows the 70-chart of the input/output processing subroutine, the 5th figure shows the 70-chart of the standby mode processing subroutine, and the 6th figure shows the registration mode processing. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the message memory mode processing subroutine, M81X1 is a 70-chart of the transmission mode processing subroutine, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the reception mode processing subroutine. 1...Handset, 5...Line control unit, 10...Audio memory, 20...CPU. 22...RAM.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A first storage means for storing a voice message to be sent to the telephone of the other party; a second storage means for storing the telephone number of the other party; and a second storage means for storing the transmission time at which the voice message is to be sent. 3
storage means; and a line for dialing the telephone number of the other party stored in the second storage means to connect the telephone line when the current time matches the transmission time stored in the third storage means. a connecting means; a transmitting means for reading out the voice message stored in the first storage means and transmitting it to the destination telephone via the telephone line after the line is connected by the line connecting means; a detection means for detecting whether or not the line is connected to the destination telephone after the voice message is transmitted; and when the detection means detects that the line to the destination telephone is connected, the and a control means for controlling the first storage means to store a reply voice message received via a telephone line in the first storage means. Device.